Court delays sentencing of former CMU professor

Sentencing in federal court of a former Central Michigan University professor convicted of having child pornography has been rescheduled.

Originally set to be sentenced July 11 by Judge Thomas L. Ludington in U.S. District Court in Bay City, William Lord Merrill is now scheduled to be sentenced July 23 at 3 p.m.

Court records don’t indicate the reason for the rescheduling.

Merrill, a former CMU professor specializing in internet censorship issues, entered a guilty plea in March to receiving child pornography.

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In his plea agreement, Merrill also admitted to having child porn on his computer hard drive at CMU and possessing more than 65,000 images.

In exchange for the plea, federal prosecutors dropped a second count of the same charge and one count of possession of child pornography.

Merrill, who resigned from CMU in November after being originally charged in Isabella County Trial Court, faces up to five years in prison.

Isabella County Prosecutor Risa Scully dropped state charges against Merrill following his arrest in November on federal charges.

Now free on bond, Merrill was in the Isabella County Jail facing state charges when FBI agents arrested him on the federal charges, prompting Scully to dismiss the case locally.

State charges were dropped because federal judges have greater sentencing power and because the FBI works closely with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley said after the state charges were dropped.

Scully said at that time that federal court is the proper jurisdiction considering the nature of the offenses.

Merrill was arrested in November after information technology staff at CMU noticed an increase in the CMU network’s Internet activity.

Police found through a forensic examination of Merrill’s computer after serving a search warrant Nov. 14 that there were more than 5,487 images of child pornography, according to local court records.

As the investigation by CMU Police continued, it became clear that there was a massive amount of evidence, which led to the FBI’s involvement in the case, Yeagley said in previous reports.

During his plea hearing, Merrill admitted to being in possession of more than 65,000 images, and told U.S. District Magistrate Judge Charles E. Binder that he did not watch the entire thing, but knew it was child pornography, according to a previous report from the Associated Press.

Susan Field can be reached at 989-779-6075, sfield@michigannewspapers.com or follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/#!/susan.k.field.